Ridge vent

ABSTRACT

The disclosed ridge vent generally includes a central structure disposed on the ridge of a roof with adjacent arm sections emanating from the central section. In embodiments, the arm sections may run more or less parallel with the roof line although this is not required. The central section and adjacent arm sections contain airspace allowing warm air to rise up the central section and then to flow into the adjacent arm sections and escape out of vents located on the underside of the arm sections (facing the roof). A feature of the disclosed ridge vents is that the vents are disposed facing downward facing the roof. There may be filters, for example, mesh filters, covering the vents to prevent animals, birds, insects, etc. from entering the structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the Invention

This disclosure is generally directed to roof vents including ridgevents for buildings including residential structures.

Description of the Related Art

In many geographical areas, wind driven rain is a common source ofdamage to a building or a home. Wind driven rain damage is difficult torepair and preventing such damage in the first place is highlypreferred.

The present state of the art provides ridge vents that are typicallymade of a lightweight material which is easily damaged by wind and hail.Furthermore, present ridge vents allow insect entry into the home. Inaddition, many ridge vent designs can be damaged by birds that tend touse ridge vents to perch. Present ridge vents are also typically mounteddirectly on a roof surface permitting wind driven rain to enter anddamage a home. Such damage is also typically not covered in homeownerinsurance policies.

Accordingly, there is a need for ridge vent designs that can preventwind driven rain as well as address varmint, hail, and bird damage andprevent insect entry into the building.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure provides ridge vents that are highly resilient todamage caused by wind driven rain. The disclosed ridge vents may beinstalled on the ridge of a roof and permit proper ventilation into anattic, while preventing wind driven rain from entering an attic andcausing damage to the insulation and drywall ceiling. The disclosedridge vents may also provide a barrier up from the roofing material.

Thus, the disclosed ridge vent may be disposed with a barrier above theroof. In embodiments, the barrier may be about 1/12 of an inch to about2 inches above the roof. The vents may be on an underside which preventswater entry into the building. An attached flashing may also preventwater from entering the structure at the roofline, for example, fromwind driven rain.

The disclosed ridge vent generally includes a central structure with anair space connected to the roof ridge, disposed on the ridge of a roofwith adjacent arm sections emanating from the central section. Inembodiments, the arm sections may run roughly parallel with the roofline although this is not required.

The central section and adjacent arm sections contain air space allowingwarm air to rise up the central section and then to flow into adjacentarm sections and escape out of vents located on the underside of the armsections (facing downward). Thus, a feature of the disclosed ridge ventsis that the vents are disposed facing downward and facing the roof.There may be filters, for example, metal mesh filters, covering thevents to prevent animals, birds, insects, etc., from entering thestructure.

Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detaileddescription, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a ridge vent of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a top down, planar view of an underside of a roof vent ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a top down view of a roof vent of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows another top down planar view of an embodiment of anunderside of a disclosed roof vent.

Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, the same referencenumerals refer to the same elements. The drawings may not be to scale,and the relative size, proportions, and depiction of elements in thedrawings may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader ingaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, products, and/orsystems, described herein. However, various changes, modifications, andequivalents of the methods, products, and/or systems described hereinwill be apparent to an ordinary skilled artisan.

The present disclosure provides ridge vents that may be installed, forexample, on the ridge of a roof of a building. The disclosed ridge ventsallow ventilation to the attic without permitting wind driven rain toenter the attic. Wind driven rain can cause significant damage to abuilding including damage to insulation and drywall ceiling.

The disclosed ridge vent creates a barrier up from the roofing materialon the roof while simultaneously making it next to impossible for winddriven rain to make entry into an attic. The air vents on the ridge ventmay be disposed on the underside of the ridge vent on a downward slopewith an air gap between the underside and the roof. In embodiments, thegap may be between about 1/12 of an inch and about 2 inches above theroof surface. In embodiments, the vents may be sloped away from theattic entry. The shape of the vents is not particularly limited and maybe circular, rectangular, square, or any other suitable geometric shape.

In embodiments, the disclosed ridge vents may be made of any sturdymaterial making it less prone to animal or bird damage such as a strongplastic, composite, or metal. Sheet metal is preferred. In embodiments,the ridge vents may also have a filter, for example a mesh filter, whichhinders insect bird, and animal, entry into the building.

In embodiments, there may be an attached flashing installed under theroofing material. The attached flashing may prevent water from seepingunder the roofing material and into the building or attic. Inembodiments, the flashing may be a 5″-inch flashing.

In embodiments, the disclosed ridge vent could be made of any materialcommonly used in the art of ridge vents, for example, plastics,composites, steel, sheet metal, and other metals and alloys. Inpreferred embodiments, the disclosed ridge vent is made of sheet metal.In preferred embodiments, the sheet metal is powder coated for corrosionresistance.

In one example, the ridge vent could also be an aluminum ridge ventwhich is a lightweight material that can be mounted on the roof surface.In embodiments, the ridge vent could be a shingle over ridge vent, e.g.,a rubber frame mounted to the roof surface on the ridge with shinglesinstalled over a frame. In embodiments, the roof vent could be in thestyle of a ridge cap for a metal roof. In this embodiment, this would bea cap, for example, on the ridge of a metal roof.

FIG. 1 shows a ridge vent of the disclosure. FIG. 1 shows ridge vent 1with arm sections 102 with undersides 105, central section 104, and meshfilter 103. FIG. 1 further shows roof 101. Flashing (not shown) may bedisposed, for example, under shingles of roof 101.

In embodiments, since warm air expands and rises, the warm air rises upthe air space in a central section of the ridge vent and flows out ofvents on the undersides of the arm sections. It is thus apparent thatthe disclosed ridge vent will allow warm airflow out of the building,while simultaneously preventing rain and moisture from entering thestructure. In particular, wind driven rain will be prevented fromentering the structure since the vents are located on the underside ofthe arm sections.

FIG. 2 shows a top down, planar view of underside 105 of a roof vent ofthe disclosure. FIG. 2 shows vents 106 located on underside 105 of thedisclosed roof vent. In this embodiment, the vents are circular shaped.

FIG. 3 shows a top down view of a roof vent of the disclosure. FIG. 3shows a top down view of arm sections 102.

FIG. 4 shows another top down planar view of an embodiment of underside105 of a disclosed roof vent. In FIG. 4, the vents 107 are vertical (orin other embodiments horizontal) rectangular openings. FIG. 4 furthershows airspace 108 connected with central section 104 of the disclosedridge vent.

As used herein, sheet metal is generally metal formed into thin, flatpieces. Sheet metal can typically be cut and bent into a variety ofshapes. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets areconsidered foil or leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 in) areconsidered plate steel or structural steel. There are many differentmetals that can be made into sheet metal, such as aluminum, iron,(ferrous), brass, copper, steel, tin, nickel, and titanium. An alloywith good corrosion resistance would be preferred. A preferred thicknessof sheet metal for the disclosed ridge vent would be 20-gauge.

As used herein, a mesh filter refers to any metal, plastic, or compositefilter capable of blocking insects, birds, and other animals fromentering a structure through the vents. For example, the mesh filter maybe a metal screen mesh with holes small enough to block insects. Anyfilter capable of blocking insects, birds, etc., from entering thestructure without impeding airflow out of the structure can be used.

As used herein, flashing refers to thin pieces of impervious materialinstalled to prevent the passage of water into a structure from a jointor as part of a weather resistant barrier system. Metal flashingmaterials generally include lead, aluminum, copper, stainless steel,zinc alloy, and other like materials.

Example

in one specific example, a roof vent includes a central section disposedon the ridge of a roof with a central section with an air spaceapproximately 3 inches wide. The ridge vent includes 2 arm sections withair spaces connected to the central section airspace approximately 1½inches in height. The arm sections are sloped to be generally parallelwith the roof line and to allow water runoff. The arm sections extendapproximately 5½ to 6 inches from the midpoint of the central sectionalong the roof line. The length from the end of an arm section to thecentral section is approximately 4 inches. There are a plurality ofvents of generally rectangular shape disposed on the underside of thearm sections. There is an air space of approximately 2 inches in betweenthe roof and the underside of the arm sections.

There is a screen mesh filter on the underside of the arm sectionssufficient to block birds and insects from entering through the vents.There is roof flashing connected to the central section and disposedunder the shingles and below the arm sections of the ridge vent. Thereare end caps on each end of the arm sections sealed and secured. Theroof vent is made of 20-gauge sheet metal and powder coated (with theexception of the vent area).

While this disclosure includes specific examples, it will be apparentafter an understanding of the disclosure of this application has beenattained that various changes in form and details may be made in theseexamples without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims andtheir equivalents.

I claim:
 1. A ridge vent for a building comprising: a central sectionwith an airspace; one or more arm sections extending away from thecentral section with an airspace connected to the central section; oneor more air vents disposed on an underside of an arm section.
 2. Theridge vent of claim 1, wherein there are two arm sections connected tothe central section extending away from the central section.
 3. Theridge vent of claim 2, wherein the two arm sections are sloped downward.4. The ridge vent of claim 2, further comprising a mesh filter coveringthe one or more vents.
 5. The ridge vent of claim 4, wherein the meshfilter with holes small enough to block insects.
 6. The ridge vent ofclaim 5, wherein the mesh filter is a mesh screen.
 7. The ridge vent ofclaim 1, wherein the roof vent comprises sheet metal.
 8. The ridge ventof claim 1, wherein the vents are circular shaped, rectangular shaped,and/or square-shaped.
 9. The ridge vent of claim 2, further comprising aroof flashing connected to the central section and disposed under roofshingles below the arm sections of the ridge vent.
 10. The ridge vent ofclaim 1, wherein the central section is generally rectangular in shape.